Hamlet 1

A lot can be interpreted about a character based on their first lines and interactions with the surrounding characters. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the protagonist is not introduced until the second scene of the first act. There is significance in the delay of young Hamlet's arrival because it allows the setting and the possible conflict to be set up. Hamlet is known to be very knowledgeable and intelligent as he is studying at the university of Wittenberg, which is an unusual thing for a prince to do. Hamlet is first introduced when King Claudius is addressing the court. When the King addresses Hamlet as his kin and his son, Hamlet says, "A little more than kin and less than kind" (I.ii.67). Based on Hamlet's first line, it can be understood that there is contempt towards Claudius because of old Hamlet's death. Hamlet's response to Claudius' statement seems to be a mutter because the stage directions instruct it to be an aside, meaning no one hears it besides the speaker himself. There is significance in Hamlet's first line because it immediately shows that his interaction with Claudius may not be good. In Hamlet's first soliloquy, it is expressed that he is still mourning his father's death.  His disappointment towards him mother is shown as he compares her to "Niobe, all tears - why she, (even she) [...] Would have mourned longer!), married with [his] uncle" (I.ii.153-155). In Greek mythology, Niobe was a character who lost her children and cried for the rest of her life out of grief. Hamlet's use of this metaphor to describe his mother's grief shows that he thinks his mother did not care about his father's death at all. His explanation of his anger and disdain for the situation would make one think that he will do something to change it; however, Hamlet says, "for I must hold my tongue" (I.ii.164). Although he has many conflicted feelings, he cannot speak of them to anyone. Why?